The government requires hedge funds and wealthy investors with a certain portfolio size to file a report that shows their long equity positions at the end of every quarter. Even though it isn’t their purpose, these filings level the playing field for ordinary investors. The latest round of 13F filings discloses the funds’ positions as of September 30. We at Insider Monkey have made an extensive database of more than 700 of those elite funds and prominent investors’ filings. In this article, we analyze how these investors traded Cosi Inc (NASDAQ:COSI) in the third quarter.
Cosi Inc (NASDAQ:COSI) was in 4 hedge funds’ portfolios at the end of September. Cosi Inc (NASDAQ:COSI) investors should be aware of a lack of growth in the support for the stock from the world’s most elite money managers of late. There were 4 hedge funds in our database with Cosi Inc (NASDAQ:COSI) positions at the end of the previous quarter. The level and the change in hedge fund popularity aren’t the only variables you need to analyze to decipher hedge funds’ perspectives. A stock may witness a boost in popularity, but it may still be less popular than similarly priced stocks. That’s why at the end of this article we will examine companies such as CHC Group Ltd (NYSE:HELI), Eleven Biotherapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:EBIO), and Zosano Pharma Corp (NASDAQ:ZSAN) to gather more data points.
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Today there are a multitude of indicators stock traders put to use to evaluate publicly traded companies. A pair of the best indicators are hedge fund and insider trading moves. Our experts have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the best fund managers can trounce the S&P 500 by a healthy amount (see the details here).
Keeping this in mind, we’re going to check out the key action regarding Cosi Inc (NASDAQ:COSI).
Hedge fund activity in Cosi Inc (NASDAQ:COSI)
Heading into Q4, a total of 4 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey held long positions in this stock, flat over the previous quarter. With the smart money’s capital changing hands, there exists a select group of key hedge fund managers who were increasing their holdings meaningfully (or already accumulated large positions).
According to Insider Monkey’s hedge fund database, Jeff Buick’s Trishield Capital Management has the biggest position in Cosi Inc (NASDAQ:COSI), worth close to $4.5 million, accounting for 5% of its total 13F portfolio. The second-largest stake is held by Scopus Asset Management, led by Alexander Mitchell, holding a $0.5 million position; the fund has less than 0.1% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. The remaining peers that hold long positions comprise Thomas E. Claugus’ GMT Capital and Michael Zimmerman’s Prentice Capital Management.
Earlier, we told you that the aggregate hedge fund interest in the stock was unchanged and we view this as a negative development. Even though there weren’t any hedge funds dumping their holdings during the third quarter, there weren’t any hedge funds initiating brand new positions either. This indicates that hedge funds, at the very best, perceive this stock as dead money and haven’t identified any viable catalysts to attract their attention.
Let’s check out hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to Cosi Inc (NASDAQ:COSI). We will take a look at CHC Group Ltd (NYSE:HELI), Eleven Biotherapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:EBIO), Zosano Pharma Corp (NASDAQ:ZSAN), and Network-1 Technologies Inc (NYSEMKT:NTIP). All of these stocks’ market caps are closes to Cosi Inc (NASDAQ:COSI)’s market cap.
| Ticker | No of HFs with positions | Total Value of HF Positions (x1000) | Change in HF Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| HELI | 7 | 3034 | -6 |
| EBIO | 4 | 2653 | -1 |
| ZSAN | 5 | 4232 | 0 |
| NTIP | 4 | 1559 | 1 |
As you can see, these stocks had an average of 5 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $3 million. That figure was $6 million in Cosi Inc (NASDAQ:COSI)’s case. CHC Group Ltd (NYSE:HELI) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand, Eleven Biotherapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:EBIO) is the least popular one with only 4 bullish hedge fund positions. Compared to these stocks, Cosi Inc (NASDAQ:COSI) is tied for the least support, though it does have more money invested in it than any of the other stocks. Considering that the investors which do like it have $1.5 million invested in it on average, which is quite high for a nano-cap company, it may be worthwhile to look into why they like this stock.
